GRAPEVINE 01-21-00 APWU has set up a national HOTline to Washington DC HQs for questions concerning the new payscales. Give them a call at 1-877-567APWU. VP Bill Burrus is working with the USPS to resolve the problems in steps B-D. A new federal law a few years ago established a Postal Inspector General, an independent agency to handle complaints & problems in the USPS. You may have seen their ad in the last POSTAL LIFE magazine. Previously, the postal inspectors handled such problems. Make a note of the Inspector General's free HOTline at 1-888-USPS-OIG. There is also a website at http://www.uspsoig.gov. Both the payscale and OIG info are posted on our website. There was a meeting today of the Local Dispute Resolution Committee to try to solve the many craft jurisdictional problems between the clerks and mailhandlers that have arisen in the past two years. In attendance for APWU were Frank Fickle, Loren Adams and Jake Lamkins. For the mailhandlers there were Mark Lucas and Mike Hughes. Management was represented by Bill Woods from Little Rock, Lee Thompson and Mark Bush. The mailhandlers refused to discuss the violations of the inventory established six years ago. Instead they argued that a complete new inventory should be done since there are more mailhandlers now. They maintain a "walk-through" should be done on the Plant to determine craft jurisdiction. APWU maintained the current craft jurisdiction was done properly, is still in force, and violations should cease. Furthermore, there is no contractual basis for a so-called "walk-through" of the facility. Bill Woods agreed there is no contractual language but "it is done all the time". We stressed that the contract states an inventory of a new facility will be done within 90 days of it's activation. This was done in a meeting with Gary Noe, Frank Fickle, and Mark Lucas. The mailhandlers request is untimely by two years. Management refused to do the right thing and state the inventory would be strictly adhered to and leave it up to the mailhandlers to appeal that decision. Instead, Woods said he would take it up with "regional". The meeting ended in an impasse. The language of the National Memorandum establishing the Local Dispute Resolution Committees and requiring an inventory of craft jurisdiction is very clear and specific. What the mailhandlers propose is illegal and we refused to agree to it. The whole idea is a fishing expedition to take clerk work and make it mailhandler work. Loren will apprise our NBAs of what happened at the meeting today. He will see them at the six state meeting in Dallas that starts tomorrow. We await counsel from them as to our next move regarding this important matter.